Benjamin Mendy stepped up his return from injury with a 45 minute run out for Manchester City Under-23s in a 1-1 draw with rivals Manchester United on Friday night.

French international Mendy has been out of action for 45 minutes due to a cruciate knee ligament injury suffered in September.

The 23-year-old started at the City Football Academy and his name was cheered by those in attendance when announced ahead of kickoff.

Mendy, signed for £50million from Monaco in the summer, made just five appearances for the first team before suffering injury.

But on a low key comeback, he came through unscathed as he looks to push back to full fitness - potentially in time to land a World Cup place.

Benjamin Mendy played 45 minutes for City (Image: Manchester City FC)

The French star has been out of action since September (Image: Manchester City FC)

After undergoing surgery and a strict rehabilitation programme, Didier Deschamps has refused to count him out of his Les Bleus squad for this summer’s finals.

Mendy took to Twitter to celebrate his return, in typical fashion declaring: "BREAKING: my loan to INJURY FC has officially ended today, and I’m back playing for @ManCity baby !! So happy thanks to all the staff & players that helped me through this looong time, and of course everyone in here #SharkTeam we back !!!"

Lorenzo Gonzalez scored for City in the fourth minute, before Indy Boonen’s header before half-time handed Ricky Sbragia’s Under-23 Red Devils a share of the spoils.

United’s inability to win means they face relegation from the Premier League 2 if Derby beat West Ham in their fixture on Monday.